John Benjamin Graham

John Benjamin Graham (born March 8, 1813 in Bexhill , East Sussex , South England , † November 8, 1876 in England) was a British mine owner. He had his summer residence temporarily in the little castle in Handschuhsheim , where a street and a park are named after him today.

Life

Graham lived in Australia from 1839 to 1848 , where he became wealthy by acquiring the Burra copper mines . Back in England, he married Louisa Rymill in 1849. In 1850 the son Harry Robert Graham was born. For health reasons, the family moved to Frankfurt am Main in 1855 , where their second son Malcolm was born in 1856 and from where they traveled mainly to Italy. In the summer months the family resided in Heidelberg , where Graham was in contact with Hermann von Helmholtz , Franz von Chelius and Anton Christ . In 1861 Graham bought the small castle in Handschuhsheim from Adolf Uhde for 35,000 guilders and lived there in the summer months. In 1870 his wife Louise died and was buried in Handschuhsheim. Graham then moved back to England, where he died of a stroke in 1876. He was transferred to Handschuhsheim and buried at the side of his wife. Son Harry lived in the small castle in Handschuhsheim for some time as a wealthy private citizen before he was elected to the English parliament in 1889 and also returned to England.

Grahamstrasse is named after the family who made various charitable donations in Handschuhsheim . The park near the castle, which the previous owner Carl Uhde laid out in 1836, is now called John Benjamin Graham Park .

literature

• Hans Heiberger: Handschuhsheim. Chronicle of a Heidelberg district , Heidelberg 1985, p. 151/152.
• Ursula Perkow : Twice "Gracious Mr. Graham" in Handschuhsheim (1861-1914). The little castle as the rural residence of the mine king and his family . In: Yearbook of the Handschuhsheim district association 2004, pp. 95-102